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Expanded Comments | Additional Comments |
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| 1 Be silent [and hearken] unto me, O ye Coastlands, And let the Races of Men renew their strength,–Let them approach, then, let them speak, Together, for controversy, let us draw near:– |
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| 2 Who, roused up one from the East, In righteousness, called him to his feet,–Set before him, nations, And, over kings, caused him to rule, His sword, made [them] like dust, His bow, like driven chaff: |
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| 3 He pursued them, passed along safely,–Upon the path of his own feet, entered he not? |
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| 4 Who, hath wrought and performed, Calling the generations, in advance? I, Yahweh, [who am] First, And, with them who are last, I, am the Same!
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The first, and with the last – God is the only one that should be recognized. Q361:1; CR276:5
All others go into forgetfulness. I will be the God eventually, in the end. Q361:1
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The LORD, the first – Jehovah God is indeed the First.
With the last – He does not here claim to be the Last but rather He is WITH the last. This is in contrast to Rev. 3:14 where it speaks of His Son as being the Beginning of the creation of God. |
| 5 Coastlands, have seen, so they fear, The ends of the earth, are in dread,–They have drawn near, and have come: |
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| 6 Every man, to his neighbour, giveth help,–And, to his brother, saith, Take courage! |
Of good courage – A right kind of courage, a godly courage. R5330:1
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| 7 So, the carver, hath encouraged, the goldsmith, He that maketh smooth with the hammer, him that smiteth the anvil,–Saying of the welding, It is, good, Then hath he fastened it with nails–it must not totter! |
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| 8 But, thou, Israel, my Servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,–The seed of Abraham, my loving one; |
Abraham my friend – Being in heart accord with God, Abraham was granted a measure of covenant relationship. R4595:3
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| 9 Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, And, from the extremities thereof, have called thee,–And said to thee, My Servant, thou! I have chosen thee, and not cast thee off. |
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| 10 Do not fear, for, with thee, I am! Look not around, for, I, am thy God,–I have emboldened thee, Yea I have helped thee, Yea I have upheld thee, with my righteous, right-hand. |
Fear thou not – He who exercises much faith may have quietude. R5345:5
For I am with thee – We need this assurance to carry out the responsibilities of the Lord's service. R1652:1
Hand of my righteousness – With the power of his truth. R1307:6
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| 11 Lo! they shall turn pale and be ashamed–All they who have been incensed against thee,–They shall become as nothing and perish–The men who have been thine accusers: |
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| 12 Thou shalt seek them, but shalt not find them–The men who have contended with thee, They shall become as nothing, and as a thing of nought–The men who have warred against thee; |
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| 13 For I, Yahweh, thy God, am firmly grasping thy right-hand,–Who am saying unto thee, Do not fear! I, have become thy helper! |
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| 14 Do not fear, Thou worm Jacob, Ye men of Israel,–I, have become thy helper, Declareth Yahweh, And thy redeemer, The Holy One of Israel. |
Thy redeemer – The Father. All that our Redeemer has done for us has been the carrying out of the Plan of Jehovah. R4085:3
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| 15 Lo! I have made of thee a new pointed threshing sledge, owning teeth,–Thou shalt thresh mountains, and crush them, And, hills–like chaff, shalt thou make: |
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Thresh the mountains – This is what the Lord's people do to the mountains [kingdoms].
Beat them small – Make them smaller than they were. They were mountains (kingdoms), now, as a reult of being beaten, they are less than mountains, they are hills.
The hills – Lesser governments such as constitutional monarchies (where the king has little or no real power) or republics.
Make the hills as chaff – Note how this process of God's kingdom begins with this reducing Christendom (iron mixed with miry clay, union of church and state) from Mountains to hills to chaff. This corresponds exactly with the description of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream as described in Dan. 2:35. "became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away." |
| 16 Thou shalt fan them, and, a wind, shall carry them away, And, a whirlwind, scatter, them,–But, thou, shalt exult in Yahweh, And, in the Holy One of Israel, shalt thou boast thyself. |
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Thou shalt fan them –
The wind – The Great War, a.k.a. World War I.
The whirlwind – 1 Kings 19:11-12 Wind, Earthquake, Fire, Still small voice. |
| 17 As for the oppressed and the needy, Seeking water, when there is, none, Their tongue, with thirst, being parched, I–Yahweh, will answer them, The God of Israel, I will not forsake them: |
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| 18 I will open, On bare hills, rivers, and, In the midst of plains, fountains,–I will make, The desert, a lake of water, and, Parched land, springs of water; |
I will open rivers – Now commencing to be fulfilled. R1379:6*
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| 19 I will set, in the desert! Cedar, acacia, and myrtle, and oil-tree,–I will place, in the waste plain, Cypress, holm-oak, and sherbin-cedar, together, |
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| 20 That men may see and observe, and consider and understand, at once, That, the hand of Yahweh, hath done this, That, the Holy One of Israel, hath created it. |
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| 21 Bring near your contention, Saith Yahweh,–Advance your defences, Saith the King of Jacob: |
Produce your cause – To scoffers we say: Account for the peculiar fitness of the testimony of the "stone witness" by your worldly wisdom. C374
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| 22 Let them advance them, and tell us, What shall happen,–Things known in advance–what they were, tell ye, That we may lay them to our heart, and mark the after-story of them, Or, things yet to come, let us hear: |
Let them – The fallen angels. R2172:6
Shew us what shall happen – Scoffers: Venture to prophesy of the future and see how well your prophecies will result. C374
The former things – Things before, or to come. R2172:6
Things for to come – Scoffers: Prove that it requires no inspiration to foretell future events. C374
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| 23 Tell ye the events which shall be hereafter, That we may perceive that, gods, ye are,–Surely ye must do something–good or bad, That we may be amazed, and behold it, at once. |
That ye are gods – Mighty ones. C374; R2172:6
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Do good, or do evil – In addition to correctly foretelling the future, whether it be "good" or "evil," then bring it about – make it happen! |
| 24 Lo! ye, are, of nought, And, your work, is, a puff of breath,–An abomination, he that chooseth you! |
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| 25 I have roused up one from the North, and he hath come, From the rising of the sun, calleth he on my Name,–And he hath come, on deputies, as though they were mortar, And, as a potter, treadeth clay. |
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| 26 Who, hath told in advance, that we might know, And beforetime, that we might say, Right! Nay, there is none, who can tell, Nay, there is none, who can let us hear, Nay, there is none, who can understand what ye utter. |
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| 27 He who is First, [can say], To Zion, Lo! there they are! And to Jerusalem, A herald of good-tidings, do I give. |
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| 28 So I look, And there is not, a Man! Even among these, And there is none, to advise,–That, when I ask them, can answer a word. |
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| 29 Lo! as to all of them, Vanity–nothingness, are their works, Wind and emptiness, their molten images! |
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